Volume 2 Chapter 9 (2/2)

He paused for a second, and continued

“But not a single body came out from the Wetland And after that happened, no one ever dared to enter the wetland This kind of legend was formed because folks back then believed that phoenixes are known to make their nests where no humans can reach Anyway, It is true that thousands of people who entered the place never ca to what the history says nobody knohy they entered, though”

It sounds more like a made up story to scare kids to stay away froend A story just to e into that place While it was a mere story for Haroon, to Briella, Sepher, and Sepia, it was an interesting legend that an old man delivered

“Well, how h the wetland?” Haroon asked Teeno

“Wh-while we all agree that’s an ih the wetland, it is about two or three day distance fro, so ill be saving roughly 6 days And there is a much smaller chance to encounter any monsters”

“That sounds right There aren’t many monsters around the wetland, as foul s down from the slope Humans made a natural ith the forest, but that’s not what monsters could do,” Doran added

Then Haroon could see how a forest could have formed It was formed by humans who planted trees to make it act like a windbreaker

“6 days?” Haroon murmured

Devron and Doran heard Haroon seriouslythe words ‘6 days’ repeatedly

‘Does he have a way to go through the wetland?’

They both thought for a moment, then shook their heads It simply wasn’t possible

“Devron, how much do you trust me?”

“I-I am not sure what you mean, Haroon”

Devron was not able to re Haroon’s sudden question out of nowhere The others found it weird and looked at Haroon

“Ah, sorry I asked the wrong question I knoe haven’t built up enough trust yet”

“Well, Yes, I do trust you, and that’s e asked you to escort us, don’t you think?”

Devron was nervous that Haroon would withdraw from the quest He chose this path only because he believed that Haroon’s throwing knife skill could protect theives up, there wouldn’t be any chance for them

“I o through the wetland?”

“Wha-WHAT?!”

Everyone jumped up when they heard Haroon’s words

“I have an ability that can find a safe path through the wetland Of course, it is your choice to believe me or not”

Devron couldn’t hide the astonish off his emotionless-mask

“Really? You can find a safe path?”

“Yes, if you trust h the wetland”

A deafening silence laid upon the party after hearing Haroon’s confident words It became a serious concern, as it was a matter of life or death

“I won’t I saw your throwing skills, but I cannot trust you on that How can a Grade-D mercenary possibly do that? That poison and foul sh to make me feel dizzy even from this far”

It was Hall She saw Haroon’s skill while she was hiding in the cart with Briella, but it was still hard for her to trust Haroon’s claireeing to the fact Not because Haroon is a grade-Dlike them

“I mean, it could be possible One of our Boss’s ability is Ele the spirits”

Ritrina gave a positive opinion

“As far as I know, there is no such elementalism related to poison”

Philip opposed with a look of worry Philip knew Haroon was good at dealing with sickness, at least good enough to cure their strange disease, but poison was a totally different matter

“It is not about it being possible or not If ere to go, we et dark e are still in the middle of the wetland, and that will be troublesome,” said Haroon

Mixed feelings went through Devron’s and Doran’s eyes

“True, we need to decide now”

“Doran, what do you think of this?”

“You knoell that I would gladly follow your decision But I have to say, from what I have seen so far, Haroon is not the kind of person ould eat his oords”

Devron nodded His mind wasn’t so different fro how Philip was calling Haroon ‘Boss’, even though he is older

“Fair enough We are counting on you I will entrust you with my life”

Finally, Devron made a hard decision The others seemed nervous, but the decision was made, so they swiftly prepared to continue the journey

“Mr Haroon, take some of these”

“What are these?”

When the party entered the forest, Teeno handed Haroon so It was small, rounded pills, and it had a delicate scent

“Those are antidotes I prepared, just in case”

“Antidotes?”

Haroon s scent It see added that wasn’t included in Hector’s antidotes

“Are these made with Syaltano?”

“Ho-how do you know that name?”

Teeno jumped when he heard the name ‘Syaltano’ from Haroon’s mouth Syaltano was one of the rare herbs that weren’t known to the public Haroon smiled back

“I know a few recipes ofthe recipes that ht redient named Syaltano He was upset that he hasn’t seen it with his own eyes, though”

Hector used to say that he could add a refreshment to the antidote, and it would y in their body

“Who made these?” Haroon asked

“It’s a bit e to say, but I made these myself”

Haroon was surprised to hear that Maybe Teeno was a greater ht

“Ithe wetland, anyway”

“Well, that’s one less risk, thanks to you”

“B-but, you know, because it only lasts for an hour……”

He couldn’t finish the sentence like he’d done a bad thing He really was an innocent man

“No, but it is good enough to be a great help”

“That’s a relief then”

With a light heart, Teeno went to the others to hand out his antidotes

When they were out of the forest and was about to enter the wetland, Haroon told the party to take an antidote in prior The party was surprised by the strong, poisonous smell and took an antidote or potion

“I will be searching for the path, so take the exact path I take, but et distracted About 20 steps would be enough”

Haroon turned away from the rest of the party and summoned Brat with a low voice

“Brat, Come out!”

“MUHAHAHA! Dinner time!”

It s its tail But its s to take an antidote The UI sound alerted that he has been poisoned

“Ok, then, find the path we talked about, and while you are etting poisoned You can do that, right?”

“Hehe Of course, Mas Who do you think I ahty power of an Essential spirit Hehehe, poison! Poison everywhere!”

“Then, lead the way”

Slowly flapping its four pairs of wings, it twitched its nose several ti

“Okay, Follow me”

Although Haroon knew Brat is an expert with poison, he orried about it being messy, so he followed it with some distance

Haroon was getting ale from Brat as they had quite so poisoned in this way, so he didn’t need to worry about the poison anymore

Brat looked for the route with less dense poison, and ht and left The others were busy enough fro with the fear of poison, but Haroon could feel the refreshi+ng air, and by that, he knew that Brat orking diligently

The thing that Haroon thought was ainto the cloud without any hesitation, Brat absorbed as e path

Since the forest was blocking the wind froh for the Haroon and Brat, was nervous and scared of going through the land of death, and their hearts were pu like crazy, but it slowed down as the time went by They were still nervous, but as Haroon proved his ability to be true, they were not scared of getting poisoned anymore Soon, they were able to realize that there wasn’t any fog where Haroon went

As there was no flow of air, and the path ide; ideally they should not be concerned about their safety, but their hearts weren’t feeling so cal away from the fear of poison, the party ether and moved closer to Haroon Now the rest of the party was just 10 steps away from Haroon

Haroon unsummoned Brat before his mana ran out With the amount of mana his character could hold, he could not maintain Brat summoned for more than 9 minutes Fortunately, Brat had already moved so far that the party could move without it for a while

No s, Haroon could easily find the passage that Brat round and the party sometimes had to wet their ankles, but that was all Whenever they had to go through large and small puddles, those were detoxified and were safe to cross

They had already walked for two hours, but the journey in the wetland didn’t see Haroon, they started to get tired So Haroon stopped at a flat boulder that the party could rest on

“Let’s take a rest here”

At Haroon’s call, everyone gave a deep sigh of relief Although they knew they were safe from the poisons, there was no way for theh the a land of death

“You never stop i me How can you even find a path in a place like this? Hall toldthe mana flow……” said Devron

Devron’s face was full of astonish emotionless with Haroon

“Well, Yes, it is related with elementalism… but I don’t kno to put it in words”

Just as Devron taught him indirectly, Haroon decided to hide the source of the ability

“If it is not an Eleot an Artifact, and I don’t see anything peculiar other than regularly taking mana potions, but you still find a safe path That’s really intriguing”

Not only Devron, but Doran and Teeno atching hi him differently too Especially, Teeno’s eyes were full of admiration and respect It was not as much as the rest of the party, but the Quad wankers were interested as well

“Whatever the method is, it seems you have to use lots of mana”

“Yes, ”

Haroon nodded He already drank 4 low-quality ave hiave him, but he hesitated to use them

Devron stared at Haroon for a while, then he called Hall

“Hall, get me some mana pots”

“Yes, sir”

On Devron’s order, Hall took so and handed it to Devron

“These are mid-quality pots They will be handy in a situation like this”

Devron took 4 potions fro her hands when she saw that, but Devron didn’t pay it any attention

‘Well, I don’t refuse things like this,’ Haroon thought

Just like what Bell said, the color of the mid-quality mana potion was silver Breith Troll’s blood, hundreds of redients and divinity, they were effective enough to refill the icians in a few seconds

With just one gulp, Haroon chugged the potion While he was enjoying the peculiar taste of the potion, a refreshi+ng feeling spread to his body

[Your enerated]

He was glad to hear that He could feel that his body andthat wasn’t a physical power It was ienerate this fast, unlike holya low-quality one

“It was very effective! My mana is at full already!” said Haroon

Devron laughed when he saw Haroon’s surprised face

“Well, that’s a good thing I wonder how you’ve got such a surprising ability”

Haroon wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or an indirect insult

Anyway, According to Bell, the effect of mana potions would consist even when his enerating whenever he spends it, asabout it, Haroon understood how valuable those potions were, so he handed back the 3 re potions

But Devron didn’t accept them

“Just have it with you, and use them whenever you need to You are the onlya proper potion on his journey,” said Devron

So Haroon put them back in his inventory

“Well, ere in quite a rush, so…… Thank you, anyway”

Haroon saw the Quad wankers looking at hi with accepting gifts, and when they are such valuable items? Not even a fool would do that

After a while, Haroon went ahead and su some distance between him and the rest of the party

“So, hoas it?”

“Hehe! I’m so happy to have a full belly, Mas”

“Well, have some more”

“Yes, Mas!”

Brat’s voice was full of loyalty, not the usual cockiness

‘I ht

He kept walking, followed by the others ere not as nervous as before

The effectiveness of theHe rested for two more times, but his mana was still full Also because his mana pool was quite small, but mostly because the effectiveness of theelse

They ate pre-ain When Haroon took another mid-quality potion, they were out of the wetland

‘damn! What a waste!’

He was too late to realize that he didn’t need to take a mid-quality one, only if he pushed his body to the limit

When the party was stepping on green grass once again, that’s when they were able to feel relieved

“You’ve done a great job I know it’s a bit tiring, but let’s get to the bottoet to the Viscounty castle in just 10 days,” said Devron, tapping Haroon’s shoulders

With Haroon’s help, he was able to save 6 days Not only that, the party was able to avoid encountering any ht footsteps, the party continuedtowards the Norflox Mountains

It was still early in the evening, but the party decided to sleep right after pitching their tent Not only were they bringing two kids, but they were tired frouard in the wetland and they had forced a march to the mountain They were mentally, and physically tired

‘Finally! This would be a good tiht

After , Haroon opened his statusAs it was his first ti the bandits, Haroon was expecting much from it